Chelsea BA Fine Art 2013 Graduates Mimi Winsor and Dominique Russell recently created a giant marble run interactive sculpture at End of the Road Festival 2013.
In 2012 they built an installation at the festival which was titled ‘Yankee Messiah; It’s the House of John Frum’. The installation was in a clearing in the woods within which they constructed a replica aeroplane made from light wood, bamboo, straw, string and palm leaves. Spanning in a circle around this plane colourful tribal masks peaked out from within the bushes.
This year like the previous one they wrote to ‘End of the Road’ and pitched the idea to make a giant marble run (classic children’s toy) and after the success of last year’s installation were invited back. The marble run was situated in the woods at the festival which takes place in the vibrant Larmer Tree Gardens, North Dorset in late August. The scale of the run was influenced by the height of the trees which are about 10+m high and the run was around 30m-40m long meandering throughout the trees from high up to ground level.
They collected old household guttering, chimney liners, funnels and various tubes to construct the body of the run from an eclectic mix of colourful plastic and metal tubes. The installation was set up so that people exploring the art in the woods at the festival were able to activate the marble run themselves. There was a giant funnel up in the trees for people to throw balls into from the ground.
Once the ball was caught by the funnel it began its journey down the run. Starting up high at the tree tops it meandered down looping throughout the trees. There were various drop off points and shoots that the ball could come out of depending on the course it took back to ground level.
Dominique and Mimi came up with the idea having both played with marble runs as children. They wanted to bring something exciting, colourful and interactive to the festival this year. Enlarging this iconic childhood toy was fun and humorous, as well as being recognisable and accessible to both adults and kids.